Bike way lighting

I put in a fixogram request for bike way lighting on the link between the College Rd and Herston road. It goes behind the Grammar schools, and alongside the Golf course. The only lighting is in parts next to Victoria Park and the land bridge. The rest is completely unlit and it's **dark** and **creepy**.

Anyway, got a call from the council today. The chap acknowledged that it was the main and only bikeway to the north of the CBD so it's on their priority list for lighting. However it's not in the current four year program of funding which finishes in 2016. So, if it were to get into the next program, it would happen sometime between 2017 and 2020.

Does anyone else find this farcical? While the westerners are getting tunnels miles from the CBD us northsiders have to wait between 3 and 7 years for a chance at getting some lousy lighting.

Yes BCC. We believe that active travel is your priority...

Next job to send that email I promised with this to Vicki Howard as promised at the CBD bug meeting in December.

Replies to This Discussion

Hey - we have to have something to keep us happy since we have to put up with temperatures 5-10 degrees higher than the rest of Brisbane ;-)

Besides what tunnels are you talking about? All I know about is a bridge over Moggil Rd (which knowing the standard of bike planning in Brisbane will probably have ZigZag ramps as treatments at the end like at Goodna:

Sorry, tunnel... bridge... either way it's a loooong way from the CBD and would be worth many, many times the cost of a few lights. Meanwhile... people riding bikes to the north get a couple of K out of the CBD on unlit and indirect paths and then get tossed onto the road with only the occasional park car filled "bike lane" as concession.

The real problem I think is that putting a bit of lighting along a small stretch of path is sooo expensive that it needs to be budgeted for as part of a long-term program of funding. I realise the lights need to be effective, safe, durable etc - do they need to so gold-plated that they cost (I assume) tens of thousands of dollars to put in? A definition of innovation is simply finding solutions to problems. I'm sure there are many possible innovative solutions to this problem of lighting a path affordably. Simple, solar-powered, battery operated lights springs to mind. Would council ever let this happen?

The more I learn about politics in this country - from various connections - the more I realise that shows such as Yes, Minister & The Hollowmen are more like documentaries than fictional works.

The only thing most people seem to care about is whether their pay cheque comes in each fortnight and for politicians, whether they'll get re-elected enough times to ensure they have a comfortable retirement... at our expense. It's all populist clap trap.

Perhaps a petition is in order? We could gather signatures of every single person that rides past. Won't take long to get a few thousand signatures. Attach it to a letter expressing concern that council will have blood on their hands if someone is killed due to the secluded (and pitch dark) nature of the area... and of course it is close to the schools so we should also "Think of the Children!"... ;-)

It's funny... I often ride home from one of my workplaces this way, just after school finishes. There are always groups of evenly spaced couples - a boy from BGS & girl from BGGS - canoodling there. It's funny because any noise makes them look up. I usually laugh and give them the thumbs up as I ride past. Hehe.

Our bike cage door at work here has a really strong spring on it. When you're trying to open the door and struggle with a heavy bike it can be a real handful. I tried the "it's OK for me but some of the ladies are really struggling" with facilities and they didn't care much.

I mentioned this to a couple of the ladies to complain as I think they might have more luck... but you can't make them do it..

Similarly with the lighting I agree it would carry more weight. However bike commuters seem to be a resilient lot, and we don't complain much. Hardly anyone commutes after dark along there anyway... because it's creepy. I guess they just find other ways... like driving.